Furniture construction



Oct. 25, 1966 D. ALBINSON ETAL.

FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Original Filed April 11, 1963 1NVENTOR$- .00/1/ 1415/5'04/ BY F076? 6: [ll 55L JR.

A TTOIPA/E) United States Patent M 3,281,185 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Don Albinson, Zionsville, Pa., and Royce G. Engel, Jr., Chesterfield, Mo., assignors to Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Continuation of application Ser. No. 272,270, Apr. 11, 1963. This application June 24, 1965, Ser. No. 479,028 6 Claims. (Cl. 297-452) This is a continuation application of co-pending application entitled Dress Strip, Serial No. 272,270, filed April 11, 1963, now abandoned, which was a continuation-in-part application of the application entitled Upholstery Attachment, Serial No. 84,917, filed January 25, 1961.

This invention relates to fiurniture, and more particularly to an upholstery assembly with a protective decorative edge strip assembly on upholstered, pro-formed chair shells.

Modern style furniture commonly incorporates a preformed contoured shell of fiber reinforced plastic, metal, laminated wood or plastic, or related structures. The upholstery material for such chair shells is conventionally drawn over the peripheral edge of the shell and secured in the back by inserting a wire through a peripheral loop on the edge of the cover sheet. The tightly drawn portion of the cover sheet extending over the edge of the shell regularly protrudes beyond the remainder of the chair. Consequently, when chairs are pushed against each other or against a wall, these edges become scufled and worn. Moreover, the shanp edges mar walls readily.

The attachment of a protective edging to prevent this, however, has presented a considerable problem heretofore, especially when the edging is adhered in place on the article of furniture. If only a slight amount of adhesive is employed, the strip is readily pulled loose after a rel-atively short period of time because users usually grasp this edging to pull the chair around. On the other hand, if a substantial amount of adhesive is employed, the adhesive oozes out from under the strip to permanently soil and discolor the decorative upholstery cover sheet. Alternate methods such as stitching are not always possible and are often impractical, especially with thick plastic edging material.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an upholstered chair edge assembly having protective, decorative, and wear resistant qualities. It prevents scuflflng of the upholstery cover sheet, and substantially eliminates wall m-arring.

It is another object of this invention to provide an adhered edge-protective strip on a pro-formed furniture shell, capable of being securely anchored without any oozing of the adhesive from under the strip and without being readily pulled loose during use.

These and other objects of this invention will be apparent upon studying the following specification in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair employing the novel strip;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, perspective, enlarged view of a section taken on plane IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, enlarged, sectional, perspective view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 2, shown prior to attachment of the strip;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of :a complete typical strip; and FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, sectional, elevation-a l enlarged perspective view of a modified form of the assembly. Referring specifically to the drawings, the novel article of turniture is shown on a chair including a base subassembly 14 and a seat subassembly 12.

The base or support s'ubassembly 14 may be composed 3,Z8l,l85 Patented Get. 25, 1966 of a plurality of interconnected legs 15 mounted to the seat subassembly.

The seat subassembly 12 includes a rigid, preafiormed contoured shell 16 of any suitable material having sufiicient strength. Examples are fibrous-glass reinforced plastic, laminated wood, and metal. The shell is contoured to form a large seating concavity by havinga bottom 17 and an upstanding back 16a extending around the rear of the bottom 17' and along the sides thereof to form opposite sides 16b. The shell includes a continuous flange 19 (FIGS. 1 and 2) around its entire periphery, with the flange terminating in a continuous peripheral edge 19'. The flange extends generally rearwardly 'fromthe shell back (FIG. 1), extends laterally outwardly in opposite directions from the shell sides, and extends generally downwardly from the front of the shell bottom. Covering the shell is upholstery material 18 and the novel edge protective strip 24. The upholstery material 18 covers both the bottom portion 17 andthe back portion 15 of the seat, and may include a seamline along the juncture 32 between the bottom and the back. It preferably includes both :a cover sheet 20 of plastic, cloth, Woven textile material, or some other equivalent flexible, decorative sheet, and a resilent pad 22 of foam material such as plastic or rubber. The foam material is tapered towards the edges of the chair to form a smooth contoured edge. The pad and the cover sheet both have a contoured configuration to match that of the shell.

The foam pad 22 is adhered to shell 16 with a suitable adhesive which forms a permanent bond therebetween. Likewise, the decorative cover sheet 20 is preferably bonded to the foam material 22, either with an adhesive or with heat fusion. The peripheral edge portion 23 of cover sheet 20 overlaps the edge of foam material 22 and is adhered directly to shell 16 by an adhesive. Thus, the

upholstery material is securely anchored in place on the shell prior to attachment of the protective decorative strip 24.

Theprotective bumper strip 24 is :a flexible resilient strip material ordinarily formed of a thermoplastic material such as a polyvinyl plastic. continuously and severed in lengths usable for each particular chair or other article of furniture. It is generally U-shaped in cross section and the U has specially configurated legs. More specifically, it has been found that if a conventional U-shaped stripis adhered to the chair, either the adhesive tends to ooze out onto the visible covering material out of the confines of the strip, or else sufficient adhesive to retain the strip firmly in place cannot be applied. It will be realized that when a chair has a decorative strip such as this, if the chair is pulled about the floor at all, the person pulling the chair ordinarily grasps the slightly bulging protective strip since it forms a convenient handle. Thus, unless the strip is securely anchored, it will readily pull loose from the remainder of the chair. The novel strip enables a substantial amount of adhesive to be used to firmly anchor the strip, while yet retaining all of the adhesive within the confines of the strip. It also provides an intenlocking action to the bonded joint, rather than a mere shear effect between flat surfaces. The inner walls of each of the legs 25 of the U-sha-ped strip 24 include elongated grooves that form adhesive retention cavities. In the form of the invention illustrated, these grooves include a deep groove 27 in each wall near the center thereof, and an adjacent shoulder 29 adapted to contact the cover sheet on the one side and the shell on the opposite side. The terminal portions of the legs include a pair of lips 31 from the respective edges which protrude inwardly toward each other. Therefore, normally shoulders 29 and lips 31 abut the sides of the cover sheet 20 and the shell 16 The strip may be extruded article of furniture, or type of shell may be made.

leaving a recess portion adjacent thereto for adhesive 33. When the strip is applied so that the inner end of the U abuts the edge of shell 16, sli-ghrt recessed areas 35 also remain between the shell and the strip to receive adhesive (see FIG. 2). The adhesive is thus retained in these cavities and recess portions and is prevented from oozing out of the confines of the strip by the terminal lips 31. Thus, the novel strip construction enables a considerable amount of adhesive to be incorporated to anchor the strip without messiness. Moreover, the undulated configuration of the cured adhesive and cooperating stnip create an interengagement that firmly resists removal of the strip with a mere sliding action.

If desired, the strip may also he stitched to the upholstery material in addition to the adhesive as illustrated in FIG. 5. In this modified form, edge 123 of the chair shell and the edges of the upholstery material which includes a base sheet 150, a foam pad 122 and a cover sheet 120, are enveloped with protective strip 124. The textile or plastic base sheet 150 may be adhered to the shell and to fioam pad 122 to anchor it in place. Additi-onally, cover sheet 120 may be bonded to foam pad 122. The novel strip 124 is adhered to the upholstery cover sheet edges and chair shell with a suitable adhesive that is retained Within the confines of the strip as explained above. Additionally, supplemental stitching 128 is applied through log 126 of the U-shaped strip and through the two upholstery sheets 120 and 150. This is done prior to attachment of the strip and upholstery to the shell by first adhering this leg to the sheets, then stitching and then attaching the entire assembly over the shell by deformation of leg 130". Alternatively, the leg 126 need not be adhered to the cover sheets, but only stitched While adhering the lower leg 130 of the strip to the shell with adhesives. This latter form of the invention is not preferred.

Certain additional advantages will be apparent to those in the art upon studying the foregoing form of the invention and the principles involved. Also, certain minor stnuct-ral modifications to suit a particular purpose, These obvious modifiactions :are deemed to be part of this invention if practicing the principles thereof. Therefore, the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims and the reasonably equivalent structures to those defined therein.

We claim.

1. An upholstered chair construction comprising a contoured supporting s'hell forming a large seating concavity, said contoured supporting shell having a bottom portion defining a seating surface, having an upstanding black portion extending around the rear of said bottom portion to form a back and forwarding along the sides of said bottom portion to form sides, said shell having a continuous flange around its entire periphery, with said flange terminating in a continuous peripheral edge; said flange extending (generally rearwardly from said back, extending laterally outwardly in opposite directions from said sides, and extending generally downwardly uirorn the front of said bottom portion; base support means for said shell; an upholstery pad over the seating surface of said shell, having a contoured configuration to match that of said shell, the outer edge portions of said pad having a tapered configuration toward said peripheral edge but terminatinlg short of said edge to leave a marginal edge area of shell exposed; a cover sheet over said pad, having a contoured configuration to match that of said shell and said pad, andextending over said marginal edge area to said shell peripheral edge; at'least the edge areas of said pad being adhesively bonded to said shell; said cover sheet being adhesively bonded to said shell in said marginal edge area, and being adhesive'ly bonded to said pad in at least the edge areas of said pad; a fiexi'ble, decorative, protective U-shaped strip enveloping the edges of said shell and cover sheet; said strip having one leg overlapping and secured to said cover sheet in said marginal edge area, and the other leg overlapping and adhesively bonded to said shell opposite said marginal edge area, whereby even though said shell has .a large concavity area normally subject to extensive use, said pad and cover remain securely retained thereon.

2. The upholstered chair in claim 1, with said strip having elongated grooves in the inner walls of both legs of the U, defining adhesive retention cavities; and adhesive within said cavities, fior-ming a generally nndlulated interengagement between the cured adhesive and the strip to securely bond said strip to said shell and cover sheet.

3. In the chair of claim 1, wherein the legs of said U each have a terminal lip projecting toward the opposite leg to retain adhesive within the confines of said strip.

4. In the chair of claim 2, wherein said strip has shoulder projection-s adjacent said grooves, and said projections and lips comprise spaced contact areas against said shell and cover sheet.

5. The chair construction in claim 1 wherein said pad is adhesively bonded to said shell over substantially the entire back surface of said pad.

6. The chair construction in claim 5 wherein said cover sheet is adhesively bonded to said pad over substantially all coincident area thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,085,569 6/1937 Bloonrberg 297-458 2,583,702 1/1952 Meyer 4187 2,673,600 3/1954 Cramer 5360 3,040,343 6/ 1962 Neely 5--353.2 3,102,755 9/ 1963 Wilfert 2972l8 3,135,553 6/ 1964 Lockshin 297452 3,139,307 6/ 1964 Hawley et al 297-452 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,093,969 1/1960 Germany.

468,711 7/ 1937 Great Britain.

752,215 7/1956 Great Britain.

839,143 6/ 1960 Great Britain.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Examiner. 

1. AN UPHOLSTERED CHAIR CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A CONTOURED SUPPORTING SHELL FORMING A LARGE SEATING CONCAVITY, SAID CONTOURED SUPPORTING SHELL HAVING A BOTTOM PORTION DEFINING A SEATING SURFACE, HAVING AN UPSTANDING BACK PORTION EXTENDING AROUND THE REAR OF SAID BOTTOM PORTION TO FORM A BACK AND FORWARDING ALONG THE SIDES OF SAID BOTTOM PORTION TO FORM SIDES, SAID SHELL HAVING A CONTINUOUS FLANGE AROUND ITS ENTIRE PERIPHERY, WITH SAID FLANGE TERMINATING IN A CONTINUOUS PERIPHERAL EDGE; SAID FLANGE EXTENDING GENERALLY REARWARDLY FROM SAID BACK, EXTENDING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS FROM SAID SIDES, AND EXTENDING GENERALLY DOWNWARDLY FROM THE FRONT OF SAID BOTTOM PORTION; BASE SUPPORT MEANS FOR SAID SHELL; AN UPHOLSTERY PAD OVER THE SEATING SURFACE OF SAID SHELL, HAVING A CONTOURED CONFIGURATION TO MATCH THAT OF SAID SHELL, THE OUTER EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID PAD HAVING A TAPERED CONFIGURATION TOWARD SAID PERIPHERAL EDGE BUT TERMINATING SHORT OF SAID EDGE TO LEAVE A MARGINAL EDGE AREA OF SHELL EXPOSED; A COVER SHEET OVER SAID PAD, HAVING A CONTOURED CONFIGURATION TO MATCH THAT OF SAID SHELL AND SAID PAD, AND EXTENDING OVER SAID MARGINAL EDGE AREA TO SAID SHELL PERIPHERAL EDGE; AT LEAST THE EDGE AREAS OF SAID PAD BEING ADHESIVELY BONDED TO SAID SHELL IN SAID MARGINAL BEING ADHESIVELY BONDED TO SAID SHELL IN SAID MARGINAL EDGE AREA, AND BEING ADHESIVELY BONDED TO SAID PAD IN AT LEAST THE EDGE AREAS OF SAID PAD; A FLEXIBLE, DECORATIVE, PROTECTIVE U-SHAPED STRIP ENVELOPING THE EDGES OF SAID SHELL AND COVER SHEET; SAID STRIP HAVING ONE LEG OVERLAPPING AND SECURED TO SAID COVER SHEET IN SAID MARGINAL EDGE AREA, AND THE OTHER LEG OVERLAPPING AN ADHESIVELY BONDED TO SAID SHELL OPPOSITE SAID MARGINAL EDGE AREA, WHEREBY EVEN THOUGH SAID SHELL HAS A LARGE CONCAVITY AREA NORMALLY SUBJECT TO EXTENSIVE USE, SAID PAD AND COVER REMAIN SECURELY RETAINED THEREON. 